Sonic Labs taps Frax infrastructure for native network stablecoin

Sonic Labs, the R&D outfit behind the eponymous ultra-scalable blockchain, is rolling out a native stablecoin. USSD, like many U.S. dollar-denominated stables, will be backed by U.S. government debt, including tokenized Treasuries from BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Superstate. 

The token is meant “to serve as the native source of stable liquidity across the Sonic network and support on-chain financial activity throughout its ecosystem,” a statement on Monday reads. 

USSD was built using Frax’s GENIUS-compatible frxUSD stablecoin infrastructure, the modular, institutional-grade backend system built by Frax Finance for white-labeling branded stablecoins.

The solution uses the cross-chain LayerZero standard to enable users to mint USSD from over 10 chains directly to Sonic.

Additionally, USSD will be mintable and convertible with Circle’s more popular USDC token, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization. The announcement notes that USSD can be redeemed back to USDC on any chain supported by Chainlink’s CCTP

Using Frax’s infrastructure, USSD can be redeemed back to USDC on any chain supported by Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, a native route for transferring USDC, “providing a familiar and reliable on and off-ramp.”

Vertical integration

Last month, Sonic Labs announced plans to begin “vertically integrating” core blockchain features and apps into the network stack to begin accruing value to its native S token. 

"USSD is a foundational step in our vertical integration initiative,” Samuel Harcourt, core Sonic contributor, said. “USSD will enable Sonic to tap into institutional yield at the base layer and build a more resilient ecosystem with external incentives and buybacks. By introducing a network-native stablecoin backed by real-world assets, Sonic Labs is enabling stable liquidity that supports long-term growth while maintaining the transparency and reliability users expect.”

Sonic is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that aims to achieve 100s of thousands of transactions per second and near-instant confirmations. Chainspect ranks it among the highest-throughput chains, especially within the EVM ecosystem. 

S is trading at $0.040 around publication time, up 4.5% on the day, according to The Block’s data.